


The Loving Pair

by pixiedustandbluebutterflies



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Partners to friends to lovers, Pining Draco Malfoy, The Mourning Madam's Once Upon A Time Dramione Fairy Tale Fest, not anti-ron weasley but probably not pro-ron weasley
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-10-02 00:49:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20454203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixiedustandbluebutterflies/pseuds/pixiedustandbluebutterflies
Summary: When Draco was eventually assigned to the Department of Muggle Relations as part of his parole, he intended to show up for his required amount of hours, prove that he wasn’t a threat to society, and avoid interacting with his coworkers as much as possible.Draco never intended to actually enjoy the work or the time he spent with the newly hired Junior Associate - Hermione Granger.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So I really wanted to make sure that I posted SOMETHING for this fest on time. The first two parts are complete (and the last part) - so once I have that tricky third portion done, you'll get the rest of it!
> 
> I had a lot of fun with this prompt. It screamed Dramione from the moment I read it (even though my end product is only loosely inspired by the original). If you have the time, check out the original - The Loving Pair by Hans Christian Andersen.
> 
> PS This story is mostly rated M for Mature due to the fact that I swear...like a lot. It gets a little spicy, but more like....chili pepper than cayenne if you know what I mean? Light spice... It would only have one pepper next to it on a restaurant menu.

<

# Prologue

In hindsight, Draco Malfoy should have expected to run into his old schoolmates during his community service. The dream that he could work through this time in peace was truly a delusion; the United Kingdom may be big, but Wizarding Britain was small. 

When Draco was eventually assigned to the Department of Muggle Relations as part of his parole, he intended to show up for his required amount of hours, prove that he wasn’t a threat to society, and avoid interacting with his coworkers as much as possible. 

Draco never intended to actually enjoy the work or the time he spent with the newly hired Junior Associate - Hermione Granger. 

The Department of Muggle Relations was recovering after a regime that had disbanded their department and labeled their work as treasonous. They were exhausted and understaffed, so the team saw Hermione and Draco as the perfect people for busywork. Neither one of them was excited to be assigned to the same office, but she was new and he was a “volunteer,” so the bottom rung was theirs to hang from. It quickly became clear that they had exactly three jobs: make coffee, file paperwork, and stay out of the way. 

Of course, Hermione knew spells to take care of the first two jobs, so that left them with a lot of downtime. 

During that downtime, they attempted to stay away from each other as much as possible, but when you worked in a glorified closet, that wasn’t easy to achieve. The first few months were touch and go - with the War still fresh in their minds, it was hard to let go of the animosity that had been built over the years. 

As time passed, their sense of camaraderie grew. Draco learned that Hermione preferred to write with Muggle pens (and _ insisted _ that she was happy dating Ron Weasley), and Hermione learned how Draco took his tea (and _ insisted _that chocolate was the only thing that made life worth living). Their silences turned from distrustful to amicable, and eventually grew into small talk, which evolved into conversations about the Department’s work. During these conversations, Draco found himself trying to keep up with Hermione’s knowledge and her passion. He found himself desperate to impress her - even if they didn’t always agree.

Eventually, the Department started sending Hermione into the field. Setting up lunch and hauling equipment turned into taking notes and recording interviews. She soon became an indispensable member of the team. But she always came back to their little office, to their quiet conversations, usually carrying Draco’s perfect cup of tea.


	2. The Beginning

The chair creaked as Draco stretched his legs, his oxfords nudging the desk in front of him. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles as footsteps drew close to the door. His hands twitched, but whoever it was passed by the office and he readjusted his tie. 

Shaking his head, Draco stopped his fidgeting and glanced at his watch. He hummed softly when he realized he hadn’t been waiting  _ that  _ long, and shifted his focus to a poster talking about the importance of teamwork - reading and rereading the quote until it was all he could see. 

He snapped to attention as the door swung open revealing his boss, “Well, Draco, I’ve spoken with the rest of the team,” Geirhardt said as he took his seat behind the desk. 

“I’m not going to lie to you - none of us were excited to babysit someone who was on parole after supporting Voldemort’s regime; we had our misgivings when you originally came here,” Draco could feel his hands move to play with his cufflinks, but instead forced them to interlock, to stop  _ fucking  _ fidgeting, as he nodded his head in understanding. “But, we do recognize that you’ve worked hard for us. That you’ve been an asset to the team, even behind the scenes. We’ve discussed it at length and have agreed to bring you on full-time. As an Associate’s Assistant.”

“Thank you, sir,” Draco reached across the space to shake the older man’s hand. He felt himself exhale as Gierhardt launched into an explanation about paperwork and job descriptions. He had been anxious going into this meeting - didn’t know what it would feel like to officially step out of his family’s shadow.

Quite frankly, it felt pretty fucking good.

The meeting ended and Draco followed the familiar route back to the office he’d occupied for the last eighteen months. As he approached the door, the familiar scent of sage and lemon hit him. Granger must be in, gathering the last of her things before moving to her new assignment. She’d been promoted to Associate - no more Junior for her she’d said. He hovered outside for a moment, listening to her bustle about, enjoying the last few moments of familiarity before it ended and they went their separate ways. 

He finally pushed open the door to see that everything was in tact. Not a thing moved out of place. Except for the words  _ Congratulations, Malfoy! _ hovering above his desk in silver script. Underneath the words was a single, giant chocolate cupcake. He stepped slowly into the space, looking at Granger expectantly as he stood just inside the doorway.

“You got the job, right? I’m not about to eat my foot, am I?” She moved toward him, her brown eyes anxious. Hermione moved to take another step before stopping herself, fidgeting with the arms of her jumper.

_ She must be where I picked up all the  _ fucking  _ fidgeting,  _ Draco thought to himself. “How did you even know I’d applied, Granger? Isn’t that sort of thing confidential?”

“Typically, yes,” she said, pushing a stray hair behind her ear. “But, seeing as I’m the one who’s done the most work with you during your time here, they wanted my recommendation.”

“Yeah, and what did you say?”

“That you’re a tool, Malfoy,” Granger smiled. It was the impish smile that she saved for him when she was feeling bold. “That you never date your paperwork properly, that I’m constantly having to reorganize your ingoing and outgoing folders, and that even after eighteen months you don’t know the difference between and  _ incident  _ report and an  _ accident  _ report.”

“Is that all?”

“Yup, that’s pretty much it,” she finally took that step toward him and Draco was afraid to move. Afraid that if he did, she’d think twice about getting closer to him. “Oh, and that you make the best cup of tea in the building. That should be reason enough for them to hire you.” She stopped right in front of him, a breath away. “So did they? You know, hire you?”

“Of course they bloody hired me, Granger. I’m a true asset to the team,” his arms were crossed in front of him. He couldn’t remember putting them that way, but there they were and suddenly her hand was resting on his bicep. She had to look almost straight up to meet his eyes from this close. 

“Look at you go. Learning how to live your own life,” Warmth spread through Draco’s chest. He felt proud - probably for the first time in years. She finally stepped out of his personal space, reaching behind herself to grab the cupcake on the desk. “Welcome to the department,” she said as she placed it in his hand. 

“Thanks, Granger,” he saluted her with the dessert. Draco carried the cupcake over to his desk and leaned against it, slowly unwrapping as he went. “So, shouldn’t you’ve started packing your things? I distinctly remember you saying something about moving out of our lovely little hole in the wall.” 

Hermione watched him carefully break the stem off of the cupcake and place it on top, creating a sandwich before responding, “Um, yeah. That was originally the plan. But I talked to Gierhardt and we agreed it made more sense for me to stay here. Since you’re going to be my assistant.”

Draco choked on a cake crumb. He’d only just gotten the job - he hadn’t even begun to think about who he’d be working with. It was easy to assume that he’d be assigned to someone more senior in the department; that his time with Granger was coming to an end. 

Her eyes grew wide before she turned away from him, “Unless you’d prefer to work with someone else. I’m sure it could be arranged if -”

“No! No. That’s great,” He trailed off. They’d never really discussed the fact that they actually  _ enjoyed  _ working together - that they complemented each other. 

Before he knew it, the words just slipped out of his mouth, “Would you like to go grab a cuppa?”

Hermione looked at him like she hadn’t heard him properly. “Grab a cuppa,” she repeated.

Well, there was no backing down now. “Yes, a proper cuppa. The two of us at a shop together enjoying a hot beverage. Since there’s no end in sight to us spending time together we might as well lean into it.” He went to grab their coats but hesitated when she spoke.

“I don’t know if that’s the best idea, Malfoy.” An uneasy silence filled the space between them. The tension grew. Draco didn’t know where to go from here. His hand hovered in the air.

He refused to turn and look at her, “Oh. Well -”

“It’s just we’ve never… We’ve never seen each other outside of work like that. We have such a good rapport, Malfoy, I’d hate to ruin it,” she sounded like she was picking her words carefully, but the excuse was shotty at best. 

“You’d hate to ruin our working relationship by becoming friendly outside of work,” Draco clarified, lowering his hand and finally turning around to look at her. She hadn’t moved from her spot by the desks but was fiddling with the ends of her hair. Her eyes seemed to beg him to drop the subject. 

Draco took a deep breath. He didn’t think he’d like the answer to his next question, “What’s this really about, Granger?”

“Well,” she took a deep breath, looking him in the eye for the first time since he’d turned around to face her. “You know as well as I do that we can’t go out in public without being hounded by the tabloids. If they saw us out together they might try to imply it’s something it’s not,” she looked down at her shoes. “I just don’t particularly want to fight with Ron about it,” Hermione finished quietly. 

So there it was - the truth. She didn’t want to fight with her jealous boyfriend. Draco knew that they fought often both at Hogwarts and in the time following. It was hard to miss. At school, she’d be ostracized from the group - sitting separate from Potter and Weasley at meals and in class. Now, she’d come into work flustered and quiet, just waiting for someone to give her a reason to snap.

It never made sense to Draco that someone as reasonable and extraordinary as Granger would stay with someone as dramatic and inarticulate as Ron  _ fucking  _ Weasley. 

The rage that had been building inside Draco throughout the conversation died out suddenly. He wasn’t about to fight with her over this - confrontation was what she was trying to avoid. 

Rubbing his face with his hands, he relaxed, “Fine. Ok, that’s fine then. I get it.”

“Malfoy I’m -”

“You don’t have to apologize. It’s really fine,” he looked over at the clock. Five past six; time to go home. Draco reached for his coat again, slinging it across his shoulders as he went to walk out the door. He hesitated in the doorway, “Just know the invite is open. If you change your mind.” With that, he left, grateful it was Friday.


End file.
